>> pelley: tonight, where the economy is headed. the new jobs report has bright spots, but at this rate, unemployment won't be close to normal this decade. anthony mason in new york tells us why. ben tracy in los angeles shows us where the jobs are. an airline pilot is pulled from the cockpit, charged with drinking. michelle miller on how often that happens. we'll look at the 29 states where the flu is the worst. dr. jon lapook reports on who should get a flu shot. >> follow me! >> pelley: and steve hartman "on the road" with a scientist applying to run a museum. the trouble is, he's nine years old. >> reporter: you could write a book about dinosaurs. >> i already did.

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. this economic recovery has been stingy with jobs and today we saw that is still true. the unemployment rate was stuck at 7.8% last month even though the economy creating 155,00,000w jobs. that rate of job creation has been fairly steady in recent months. the problem is that many jobs only covers the growth in the u.s. population, it doesn't put a dent in this number: 12 million, the number of americans still out of work. we have two reports tonight. ben tracy on the state that is creating the most jobs. but first, anthony mason on the hidden bright spots in today's jobs report. >> reporter: the u.s. economy shook off concerns about the fiscal cliff, tax hikes, and spending cuts as employers continued to hire in december. the strongest job growth coming

in construction and manufacturing. and some employers, like neil gloger are surprisingly optimistic. >> i think business is going to be exceptionally strong this year for many reasons. >> reporter: he runs intergroup international, a company that recycles and then resells industrial scrap plastic. he says companies like his have been running lean for a long time. >> at a certain point the dam is going to burst and we are simply going to have to add workers and we are going to have to increase production just to keep up with demand. >> reporter: he has 65 employees in intergroup's three facilities around cleveland and expects to hire another 25 workers this year. but for the past two years, the nation's economy has been stuck in a rut, creating an average of 153,000 jobs a month in both 2011 and 2012. where do you think the economy's headed in the new year? >> i think we're going to continue to grow probably around

2.5%. it's a very lackluster kind of number but it's not the recession that we could have had. >> reporter: john riding is chief economist with r.d.q. economics. so we're still looking at two to three years before unemployment gets close to what it was before the recession? >> if you look at the kind of job creation that we're likely to get it's going to chip away at the unemployment rate but it will be several years before we get the unemployment rate back down to 6% unless we have a really significant pickup in job growth. >> reporter: in fact, if job growth continues at its current pace, the unemployment rate would not drop below 6% until well after 2020. >> pelley: an unbelievably long road. anthony, last month was the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the great recession. of all the people who lost their jobs in the recession, how many of them have their jobs back now? >> reporter: if you go back to the first two years, scott, '08/'09, we lost 8.7 million jobs, in the last three years

we've created 4.7 so we're just halfway back on the job front. >> pelley: anthony thanks. the unemployment rate announced today doesn't quite capture the scope of the problem. when you add together the number of people unemployed with those who can find only part-time work and workers who've given up looking the underemployment rate is 22.7%. we noticed today that california is leading the nation in job creation now so we asked ben tracy to find out how the golden state is striking it rich. >> reporter: currently you have two buildings but you're still looking for more? >> we're still looking for more. we're growing fast. >> reporter: jim wynn is an executive vice president at truecar.com. their web site helps consumers know fair prices when buying or selling a vehicle. two years ago, how many employees did you have a true car? >> just over a hundred. >> reporter: how many do you have snowed. >> over three hundred. >> reporter: are you planning to add more? >> we are. just this morning i was looking at new office space.

>> reporter: true car is one of dozens of startups that have earned santa monica, california, a nickname: silicon beach. in the past year, california has added 26,000 new information technology jobs. the construction industry is also booming with 26,400 new jobs. and tourism and hospitality has added nearly 63,000. new companies create most of the new jobs. iand a recent steady shows los angeles has the most entrepreneurs of any area in the country. that job growth is fueling consumer spending. auto sales were up 14% last year. that's why true car is planning to add up to 100 more employees in 2013. >> we want to make sure that we're prepared to essentially ride that tide as it's coming through. >> reporter: during the recession, california was losing jobs to states with lower taxes such as texas. but, scott, since february, california's created 234,000 new jobs-- that's more than texas, oregon, and west virginia

combined. >> pelley: better news, ben, thanks very much. in washington today, congress passed part of an aid package for victims of superstorm sandy-- nearly $10 billion to pay for flood insurance claims. house speaker john boehner has promised a vote on another $51 billion later this month. president obama was reelected today. you might have thought that that happened in november but it was today that the house and the senate held a joint session to count the electoral votes from each state. no surprise: mr. obama won with 332 electoral votes to mitt romney's 206. but the president's margin was narrow when you look at the votes cast by individual americans. the popular vote. when you add their totals together, it comes to nearly 130 million votes cast and mr. obama won by about four points. he's the first president to get more than 51% of the vote twice

since dwight eisenhower. this is the last thing you want to see when you're taking a flight: the pilot being hauled away by the police. it happened today in minneapolis aboard an american eagle commuter plane bound for new york. the pilot is accused of drinking too much. michelle miller is at laguardia airport for us tonight. michelle? >> reporter: well, scott, police boarded that plane just 15 minutes before it was scheduled to take off for new york with its 53 passengers on board. the airline says it is cooperating with authorities and will conduct its own investigation. the pilot is captain kolbjon christian son. the arrest report says airport officers and a t.s.a. agent "detected the odor of a consumed alcohol beverage as they pasted by kristiansen waited to enter the elevator. police boarded a jet like this as the pilot was in the cockpit doing a preflight check for two

and a half hour flight. he failed a preliminary alcohol breathalyzer test, was arrested, and brought to a minneapolis hospital for a blood test. on average, a dozen pilots a year failed breathalyzer tests between 2001 and 2011. the federal aviation administration requires airlines to conduct some 11,000 random alcohol tests every year. the legal limit for pilots is .04%, that's about equal to two beers. peter goltz is a former national transportation safety board managing director. >> when you're flying an aircraft, particularly today's fly-by-wire aircraft you really need to have your senses in top form. you can't be snoozing. you can't be distracted. you need to be focused on your flight. >> reporter: we don't know when the pilot was drinking but, scott, we do know this: the f.a.a.'s so-called bottle to throttle rule prohibits any

alcohol consumption a full eight hours before flying an aircraft. >> pelley: thanks, michelle. the white house put out a remarkable photograph today of what president obama calls "the worst day" of his presidency. this is mr. obama in the oval office on december 14 as his homeland security advisor john brennan tells him that 26 people, including 20 first graders, were shot to death at sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut. today, newtown got a visit from a famous victim of gun violence and jim axelrod is there. >> reporter: this is former representative gabrielle giffords, accompanied by her husband mark kelley after meeting with local officials in newtown and families of those killed. those present want to keep the details private. on wednesday, giffords, america's highest profile living gunshot victim and kelley met with new york mayor michael bloomberg. he's been a vocal supporter of stricter gun control laws.

but nowhere is the gun control debate more personal than newtown. desiree viauso has a fourth grader at sandy hook elementary and is friends with the family of josephine gay, a first grader who turned seven just three days before she was killed. viuso, who's been an n.r.a. supporter, owns two rifles an an air pistol. how have your opinions changed since the shooting? >> i used to be completely opposed to any kind of legislation about guns. but now, as long as it's balanced with the mental health issues as well then, then yeah, i think it's a good thing. it's sad that it took this tragedy for me to get there. >> reporter: she wants more extensive background checks, limits on high-capacity magazines and disagrees with the n.r.a.'s call for armed guards in every school. >> seriously?

do we want to live in that kind of environment where -- i think that projects fear on to the children instead of taking it away. >> reporter: beforehand you would feel that you were supportive of their positions? >> yes. >> reporter: do you feel that way now? >> no, not this position for sure, no. >> reporter: desiree viuso tells us that in the three weeks since the shooting the first time she felt even the slight "essence" of the darkness lifting was yesterday afternoon when her fourth grader at sandy hook elementary walked back into the house smiling after her first day back at school. >> pelley: a new day in newtown. jim, thanks very much. remember the pakistani school girl who was shot in the head by the taliban for advocating education for girls? well, she's making a remarkable recovery. malala yousafzai was flown to britain for treatment in october. today she was able to walk out of the hospital. malala, who's 15 years old, faces more surgery next month. for now, she'll be staying in

britain with her family. gun owners in new york are outraged after a newspaper publishes their addresses. we'll have a look at the 29 states where the flu is the worst. and we'll tell you what happened to a chicago jail escape artist who climbed down 20 stories worth of bed sheets when the "cbs evening news" continues. i've always had to keep my eye on her... but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out.

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>> pelley: the flu season

started early and the virus is spreading rapidly. in an update today, the c.d.c. reports a high level of flu in these 29 states and a moderate level in nine others. but health officials say it's not too late to get vaccinated, and dr. jon lapook has more on who should get the flu shot. >> reporter: this is 17-year-old max and his family on christmas day, hours after he came down with the flu. later he took a turn for the worse and was airlifted to a minnesota hospital. phil is max's uncle. >> it was really just a snowball effect over several days and doctors made a few brief periods of some progress but just were never really able to get ahead of things and his body just -- honestly just couldn't keep up. >> reporter: the flu virus can weaken a person's natural defenses. max, who did not get a flu shot, developed a bacterial infection and pneumonia. it caused his organs to shut down. he died on december 29. lynn finelli tracks flu for the c.d.c. >> influenza causes death often

through its complications. especially in the elderly influenza causes death through pneumonia and through exacerbation of chronic underlying conditions. >> reporter: 18 children have died from influenza-related illnesses since the flu season began. >> it's an extremely early flu season. in fact, we're about five weeks ahead of schedule this year. >> reporter: since 2010, the c.d.c. has recommended flu shots for everyone over the age of six months. yet only 37% of americans have been vaccinated this season-- which is about average. >> pelley: jon, you wonder why so many people don't get a flu shot. >> scott, i asked the c.d.c. today what's the number one misconception that people have about the flu and they said it's the mistaken belief that the flu vaccine can give you the flu. the c.d.c. says it cannot. it can give you a reaction, you might have aches and pains, low grade fever but that should go away in a day or two and they say it's especially important this year when it's such an active flu to get vaccinated.

they say it's the number one way to prevent the flu. >> pelley: better to get the shot. jon, thank you very much. the nation's food safety system is in for an overhaul. the f.d.a. proposed new rules today that will shift the focus to prevention. for example, farmers will have to take steps to ensuring that the water that they use to grow and wash produce is clean. in 2011, an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe killed 33 people. investigators later found that dirty water at the farm where the fruit was grown was the culprit. should a newspaper publish the address of every legal gun owner in town? we'll show you what happened when one did. next. check out my new treadmill app.

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>> pelley: do you know who owns a gun in your in connecticut, a newspaper in suburban new york wanted to answer that question. so it published this map. click on the dots and you get the names and addresses of everyone in town who has a handgun permit. that sparked a battle pitting the first amendment against the second. and elaine quijano has that story. >story. >> reporter: when you clicked on that dot and saw your name and address, what went through your mind? >> i felt like -- almost like a victim. like why is my name so easily accessd? we're not criminals. we did everything correctly. >> reporter: fill nobly is among roughly 20,000 legal gun

permit owners identified by the journal news. he's also a retired police officer. >> we all r all concerned because we put a lot of bad people away and a lot of these people are looking for an easy way to get back at us and they made it a lot easier. >> reporter: his friend, retired police detective tony charmella is also on the newspaper's online map. newspaper officials say this is public information and we have a right to publish it. >> they have the right to publicize that. but how morally right is it, what they did? are you putting people's lives in danger? they didn't think of that. >> reporter: the "journal news" declined our request for an interview, but in a statement, the publisher said: ken paulson is president of the first amendment center at vanderbilt university. he was editor of the "journal news" in the early '90s. >> under the first amendment they have every right to publish this information. after all, it was in the public

record authorized by the new york state legislature. >> reporter: but charmella believes that information could be dangerous. >> i have to be real cautious now. the "journal news" has made life very tough for me at this point. it's like i can't feel safe leaving the house at times. >> reporter: the "journal news" says it's received threats since the story was published. scott, the paper has posted armed guards at its offices. >> pelley: federal marshals have captured the second of two prisoners who escaped from a high-rise jail in chicago two weeks ago. kenneth connolly was arrested just outside the city. using a rope of knotted bed sheets connolly and joseph banks lowered themselves about 20 stories to freedom. jail officials didn't notice for hours. banks was arrested just two days later. one of the nation's best science museums has interviewed a nine-year-old for the position of curator. wait until you meet this kid, "on the road" is next.

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steve hartman found him "on the road" where the precocious meets the prehistoric. >> yeah, follow me! >> reporter: a lot of kids are into dinosaurs but few are as into dinosaurs as nine-year-old eli. you could write a book about dinosaurs. >> i already did. i'm working on my second. >> reporter: (laughs) okay. his books, which he self-publishes, are pretty impressive. but those are nothing compared to what he's setting his sights on now. one of eli's heroes was the head curator at the denver museum of nature and science so when it was announced he was leaving for a job at the smithsonian eli's first priority was to wish him well. his second was to take his job. what did he send in, exactly. >> let me see if i can find it. >> reporter: museum c.e.o. george sparks says along with all the resumes he got from p.h.d.s there was one applicant with just a third grade education. >> here's the c.v. >> reporter: a third grader named

eli navant. along with his handwritten three page cover letter he attached a letter of recommendation from his teacher. he was serious? >> he was absolutely serious and he's still absolutely serious. >> reporter: eli says when it comes to dinosaurs, at least, he has the knowledge and the experience. you say you've been on some digs. >> yeah. most of them were in my backyard, but once i found, like, this it looked like a chicken bone but it didn't look new. it almost looked prehistoric. >> reporter: (laughs) a prehistoric chicken bone? >> yeah. >> throw them in the obvious, brown them a little bit -- >> reporter: they look prehistoric? >> yeah. >> reporter: behind every kid like eli there are parents like john and shalene. since he was three they have gone to supersaurous link lengths to satisfy his appetite for raptors. and it will probably pay off. >> these are the people that win nobel prizes or find the cure for cancer and you want to encourage that. >> reporter: george says he wanted to encourage that, too.

which is why not long ago he actually called eli in for an interview. >> so tell me about yourself. why should we hire you? >> well, because i just have a great passion for prehistoric life. >> reporter: eli did really well, but he's also realistic. what if you don't get the job? >> once i know lots more about dinosaurs i'd apply for another job. >> reporter: you wouldn't give up and say "i'm done"? >> never. >> reporter: you're going to look like a real heel if you don't give him a job. >> i know that! >> reporter: so eli was recently awarded the newly created position of curator for a day. the head curator position will have to wait-- until maybe fourth grade. steve hartman, "on the road," in denver. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, i'm scott pelley. i'll see you sunday on "60 minutes." good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by

media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ten years in jail. for the abortionist, sure. killing a person for the wrong sex, that's to soft. >> and all babies are precious. many parents, they certainly do not care if they have a boy or girl. but in some cultures, a strong preference for the male children have lead to sex selective abortions. the practice is illegal in arizona. now as they tell us that the manassas lawmaker wants to make them a crime in virginia as well. >> reporter: it will be a big walkdown to richmond to say yes, it will be a good thing. come on they're not that stupid. >> reporter: they've been trying to chip away